As AbbVie moved away from promotional spend on its aging megablockbuster Humira at the same time Sanofi and Regeneron stepped up their TV campaigns for Dupixent in 2021, you might be forgiven for thinking AbbVie was content to no longer top the annual largest TV drug ad spending lists.
After Dupixent toppled AbbVie’s long-standing reign with Humira in 2021, it continued that run for much of the first half of 2022, and it seemed inevitable that the crown would stay with the immunology blockbuster for two years in row.
AbbVie, however, had other plans. A late spurt in spending from the Big Pharma for its JAK inhibitor Rinvoq stopped Dupixent in its tracks, with AbbVie spending a major $315.8 million on all TV ads for the drug in 2022, according to data shared with Fierce Pharma Marketing from real-time ad tracking specialists iSpot.TV.
That’s a huge jump from the $165 million AbbVie spent in 2021 for Rinvoq, a figure that saw it fall into fourth place for that year.
Much of the $315.8 million came in the latter half of 2022, with AbbVie spending just under $97 million in November and December alone on TV ads for Rinvoq. That’s more than double and often triple what most other companies were spending on their drugs at the same time and saw it snatch a late victory from its fierce rival.
The leading ad in terms of spend for Rinvoq was “River Rafting and Challenge Course,” which iSpot estimates had $93.4 million in TV spend for the full year. That ad fell into an “extreme theme” for the drug’s ads this year, which focused on extreme sports, driving motorcycles and dashes to helicopters as the leading motifs for its new commercials.
Immunology blockbuster Dupixent was pushed down into second place, but it was close: Sanofi and Regeneron spent $305.9 million on TV ads for the drug in 2022, up from $287.6 million from 2021, and just $10 million shy of the top spot.
Dupixent was wedged in the middle of an AbbVie sandwich, given that it also took the final podium position with Skyrizi, AbbVie’s second immunology blockbuster, coming in third place with a much lower spend than what we saw with Dupixent and Rinvoq at $174.4 million.
But it’s still a massive jump for the drug from 2021, moving up to third from eighth place, so don’t be surprised if AbbVie continues to rev its ad spending engine for both meds into 2023.
Conspicuous by its absence is another AbbVie drug. For the first time in years, and after being third in 2021, AbbVie’s $20 billion a year sales goliath Humira didn’t feature at all in the iSpot top 10 list.
While not surprising, given that AbbVie began dropping ad work for Humira across several indications in 2021 as it looked to the future with Rinvoq and Skyrizi, it’s still a major moment for the company and for TV drug ad spending, given how prominent and dominant the brand has been on U.S airwaves for the past few years.
In fourth place is Novo Nordisk’s injectable GLP-1 Type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic, up one place from 2021 and one of four diabetes drugs in the top 10 for 2022. In fact, the next three drugs on the list are all diabetes meds, with Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim’s Type 2 diabetes drug in fifth, with $145.1 million spent across 2022.
In sixth is the biggest fall year over year in Novo’s oral GLP-1 Type 2 diabetes drug Rybelsus, which fell four spots after taking second place in 2021. Spend for the drug was just $123.9 million, down nearly $100 million from the $225.2 million Novo spent in 2021.
Rounding off the diabetes drugs is Lilly’s Type 2 diabetes med Trulicity, down one place from 2021 with spending hitting $122.6 million, $27 million less than Lilly spent on TV ads for the drug the year before.
In eighth place is for the first time in this list not an immunology or diabetes drug in Rexulti, Otsuka and Lundbeck’s atypical antipsychotic for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Spending edged up by just under $8 million year over year, and that was enough to push the drug up one place from its ninth position in 2021.
Johnson & Johnson’s immunology drug Tremfya takes ninth, up from its 10th spot in 2021 with spend hitting $115.1 million, up from $106.1 million the year before
And we finish off the top 10 with an unusual drug in the form of Lilly’s Verzenio, its first time on an annual top 10 list. This, Lilly’s third drug in the top 10 is the Big Pharma’s breast cancer treatment, and it’s rare to see any oncology med feature so high in any given month, let alone over an entire year.
Cancer drugs are typically specialist medicines and, in general, it makes little sense to advertise them to a broader TV audience. Lilly, however, clearly sees the benefits of branded promotion in a cancer drug that has increasing public awareness and specific months dedicated to boosting recognition of its symptoms and treatments.
Lilly’s spend of $111.8 million in 2022 saw it jump into the top 10 from 18th place in 2021, with just over half of that spend going on one of its five spots, namely “Finding My Way Forward.”
Drilling down into the numbers, total spend for the year hit $1.68 billion across the top 10, up marginally from the $1.61 billion spent in 2021.
This doesn’t tell the whole story however as, for the first half of 2022, spend was down considerably on the first six months of 2021. It was in the second half of the year where pharma really picked up the spending pace, though the money funneled into TV ads for Rinvoq and Dupixent were the two main drivers behind this uptick.
These data are out from iSpot.tv and shared with Fierce Pharma Marketing. The company tracks pharma brand (not OTC) spending and is crunched from national TV ads from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2022.
Check out the full top 10 list below.
1. Rinvoq
Movement: Up from No. 4 in 2021
What is it? AbbVie immunology JAK inhibitor
Est. national TV ad spend: $315.8 million (up from $165 million in 2021)
Number of spots: Six (two eczema, three arthritis, one UC)
Biggest-ticket ad: “River Rafting and Challenge Course” (est. $93.4 million)
2. Dupixent
Movement: Down from first place in 2021
What is it? Sanofi and Regeneron IL13 immunology drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $305.9 million (up from $287.6 million in 2021)
Number of spots: 17 (10 eczema, seven asthma)
Biggest-ticket ad: “Du More: Kick Boxing” (est. $47.7 million)
3. Skyrizi
Movement: Up from No. 8 in 2021
What is it? AbbVie IL23 immunology drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $174.4 million (up from $121.3 million in 2021)
Number of spots: Five (four psoriasis, one psoriatic arthritis)
Biggest-ticket ad: “Restaurant” (est. $55 million)
4. Ozempic
Movement: Up from No. 5 in 2021
What is it? Novo Nordisk injectable GLP-1 Type 2 diabetes drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $157 million (up from $150.7 million in 2021)
Number of spots: Four
Biggest-ticket ad: “Ozempic Tri-zone” (est. $87.1 million)
5. Jardiance
Movement: Up from No. 7 in 2021
What is it? Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim Type 2 diabetes drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $145.1 million (up from $127.5 million in 2021)
Number of spots: Five
Biggest-ticket ad: “Meet Ron: On It” (est. $45.9 million)
6. Rybelsus
Movement: Down from second place in 2021
What is it? Novo Nordisk oral GLP-1 Type 2 diabetes drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $123.9 million (down from $225.2 million in 2021)
Number of spots: Four
Biggest-ticket ad: “Down With RYBELSUS” (est. $76.7 million)
7. Trulicity
Movement: Down from No. 6 in 2021
What is it? Eli Lilly Type 2 diabetes drug
Est. national TV ad spend: $122.6 million (down from $149.5 million in 2021)
Number of spots: Six
Biggest-ticket ad: “Daughter: A1C” (est. $53.5 million)
8. Rexulti
Movement: Up from No. 9 in 2021
What is it? Otsuka and Lundbeck atypical antipsychotic
Est. national TV ad spend: $115.8 million (up from $107.9 million in 2021)
Number of spots: Four
Biggest-ticket ad: “Hard Enough” (est. $37.7 million)
9. Tremfya
Movement: Up from No. 10 in 2021
What is it? Johnson & Johnson monoclonal antibody against IL23 for plaque psoriasis
Est. national TV ad spend: $115.1 million (up from $106.1 million in 2021)
Number of spots: Six
Biggest-ticket ad: “Emerge: $5 Per Dose” (est. $55.6 million)
10. Verzenio
Movement: Up from No. 18 in 2021
What is it? Eli Lilly CDK inhibitor for breast cancer
Est. national TV ad spend: $111.8 million (up from $70.1 million in 2021)
Number of spots: Five
Biggest-ticket ad: “Finding My Way Forward” (est. $63.1 million)